Nuances
by Project 0506
Summary: A oneshot that didn't fit in Bonding.  A background to Kabuto and Orochimaru.  Kabuto never does anything unless he feels like it, and he knows Orochimaru is the same. AUish because my timelines suck.


Disclaimer: All Kishimoto-sensei, not me. If it was me the show would be named Kabuto, not Naruto.

xx

Sometimes he forgets.

Sometimes his eyes wander from the tedium of a final exam paper and fasten on empty air. Other times, the droning repetitiveness of the lesson melts with an almost lulling effect. Sometimes Kabuto forgets, and beautiful penmanship flows across his paper. It is hardly ever more than a few lines before he is startled back to the present, and scratches nigh-unintelligible and obviously wrong answers.

Three times he has been accused of cheating, of handing in someone else's work in place of his own. The teachers all marvel at the mysterious 'Hideki', whose gorgeous writing and flawless mastery of shinobi technique is undermined only by the fact that he is naive enough to let a peon like that Yakushi boy steal his work. Kabuto makes a mental note to name his first son Hideki.

xx

Orochimaru is drenched in blood the first time they meet. Some experiment went wrong, and a shinobi-turned-monster needed to be eliminated before it raised suspicions. It was stronger than the jounin expected and, in a rare moment of luck, managed to find an opening. The wound is small, but the creature was venomous. Most of the crimson staining Orochimaru's green tunic was ripped from it's throat.

"Indelicate," Kabuto intones, stepping into the clearing. Vacant, serpentine eyes evaluate his every move.

"I can't tell whether you are idiotic or suicidal," the elite shinobi sneers. Kabuto doesn't answer. Instead his hand covers the man's torn bicep, and he experiments with removing a unfamiliar toxin. His chakra cleanses the blood and knits the skin together. If Orochimaru objects to being a guinea pig, he says nothing.

The jounin sees them easily, the tiny animals in the surrounding forest: scampering nuisances the boy brought close to death and then restored to prove he could save them, cooling bodies he let go to prove that he saved only those he felt to.

Two nights later he is roughly jerked from his bed, unceremoniously dumped on the floor of some underground lab and told to 'Fix her'. Mitarashi Anko, though still unconscious, survives the night.

Yakushi-san is ecstatic that one of the legendary three has taken a liking to his despairingly average adopted son.

xx

Kabuto is not used to being speechless. But the sting from the quick slap struck has temporarily severed all connections between brain and mouth. Wordlessly he stares, first at the man he has come to call 'master', then at the shattered syringe. The black, ink-like contents ooze across the stone floor. "Oro..." He doesn't trust the crack in his voice and tries again. "Orochimaru-sama-"

"What the hell do you think you're doing." It is a question, yet not, and Kabuto wisely falls silent. "I do not recall giving you permission to test on yourself."

"I need subjects that have no prior..." Orochimaru never snarls. It is an animal-like habit he deems far beneath him. Besides, he never has to. There is simply something about his eyes that can transform his fury into your terror. Kabuto rethinks his reply. "My apologies Orochimaru-sama. It will not happen-"

"See that it doesn't." The jounin turns and storms away. Kabuto pulls his collar back up and sets about cleaning up the experimental curse seal formula.

That evening Kabuto is told to administer the drug to the ten newest subjects and leave early.

xx

Anbu miss nothing. It is simply a fact.

Kabuto sits cross-legged on his bed, waiting for the knock at the front door, calculating how many he could kill before going down himself. He waits, but the sun rises and no Anbu comes to ask why his fingerprints were in the snake master's lab. Strange how they discover the lab the one day he leaves early.

xx

Yakushi-san breaks the news of Orochimaru's treachery as gently as he can, which is to say he brought his son to Anbu headquarters to be questioned on everything the jounin taught him. The silver-haired is silently grateful Orochimaru ordered him to insert a strip of solidified truth-serum antidote under his skin. Morino Ibiki is impressed that the trembling boy didn't wet himself. Kabuto is amazed that such gullible fools ever get any useful information. He manages to squeeze a tear or two while yelling that there had to be some mistake. After all, Orochimaru-ojiisan was merely a benevolent shinobi who sympathized with him over the loss of a pet white snake. He was even going to teach the boy _really advanced_ stuff like how to combine a bunshin with genjustsu to make it look like someone else!

At home he locks himself in his room. Even that thick-headed pair he's supposed to call 'okaasan' and 'otousan' know better than to disturb him.

xx

He is awake before there is movement, his kunai in his hand before there is sound. His teammates sleep on. His sensei, who is supposed to be keeping watch, hears nothing. Kabuto feels his legs pull him out of their camp and into the surrounding night.

"A beautiful little doll," Sasori whispers, pulling his strings and allowing him no control. "Now my little puppet will speak only for me."

The Akatsuki returns Kabuto to camp before dawn. The boy's teammates awaken from their trances, unaware of the new, unwilling traitor among them. Kabuto cannot tell them; all thought deserts him whenever he tries to point out the faint wisps of puppet strings trailing from his wrists and ankles. Invisible chakra threads wound around his neck constrict, letting only chosen words through. Such a seal would probably be difficult to break. Honestly, he doesn't try very hard.

xx

Akasuna no Sasori's control prevents him from giving any information to Konoha or her allies. Orochimaru is neither. When the sannin appears in his room, Kabuto isn't even surprised.

"Where is Konoha's weak point?" He is almost too happy to hand over the data he's gathered for Sasori. He waits as the snake master sorts through the cards. He is frozen in place, the seal preventing him from getting too close to anyone lest they accidentally free him. He cannot step forward to properly greet his master. The absence of free will both frightens and angers him.

The sannin smirks at the wealth of information on the cards. "As expected." He is never generous with praise. "Get information on Uchiha Sasuke." He turns to leave.

"You do not control me anymore." These are the only words he is able to say. 'Orochimaru-sama, help me' lies trapped in his mind.

A dark, delicate eyebrow wings upward in amusement at Kabuto's almost-childish tone. "What was that?"

"I do not have to take orders from you anymore."

Orochimaru closes the distance between in a fraction of a breath; all trace of humor is gone. "In case you've forgotten boy," he hisses, kunai pressed against the genin's throat, "you only followed my orders because you felt like it." Quickly he slices.

Kabuto expects to see blood flooding down his chest. Instead a thin thread flutters to the floor. Orochimaru destroys the puppet strings on his hands and feet just as quickly.

Experimentally Kabuto draws the tip of a knife down his arm. The trail of red that follows is proof: Sasori's seal did not allow his spy the possibility of suicide.

"Why?"

"I felt like it."

Kabuto smiles. It is small, but at least it is real. "Orochimaru-sama, you should know that I do not intend to let you leave me behind this time."

The sannin snorts. "Get me information on Sasuke Uchiha."

xx

_It is jealousy. There is no use in denying it. It is jealousy more than curiosity that draws him to the hospital room. It is hatred that cuts down the Anbu guards with little effort. It is anger that guides the kunai towards Sasuke. It would be a simple matter to kill him and make it appear he died from the effects of the curse seal or from some mysterious injury he got during the chuunin exam._

_In delirium the boy murmurs 'Aniki'. _

_Kabuto does not know what it is that makes him hesitate._


End file.
